Improvement in compositions for preserving dead bodies



JNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

JOHN M. GALLAGHER, or GARTHAGE, NEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,085, dated October 28, 1873 application filed September 13, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. GALLAGHER, of Carthage, in the county of J efferson and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Composition for Preserving Dead Bodies, of which the following is a specification:

The invention will first be fully described and then pointed out in the claim.

For one gallon of my compound I dissolve six ounces of alum, two ounces chlorate of potash, and twelve grains corrosive sublimate in one-half pint of alcohol, and then add water sufficient to make one gallon of the liquid.

Cloths are saturated with this liquid and laid upon the face, and may be applied to other parts of the body, and a certain quantity of the liquid is preferably poured into the mouth and made to reach the stomach. Decomposition and decay are thereby arrested. The cloths upon the face or body may be saturated from time to time, and in this manner decay may be arrested and the corpse preserved for eight or ten days in warm weather. When considered necessary the liquid may, by means of the proper instruments, be forced into the veins and arteries of the-body; but I do not confine myself to using the liquid internallyin any manner, although I prefer to fill the stomach and viscera in addition to the external application before mentioned.

With this cheap liquid the undertaker is enabled to dispense with the use of ice, and avoid much unnecessary trouble and expense.

I do not confine myself to the precise proportions above named, as the proportions may be varied without departing from my invention.

Having thus described my invention, Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent- A disinfectant'compound formed of alum, chlorate of potash, corrosive sublimate, and alcohol, in the proportions set forth.

JOHN M. GALLAGHER. Witnesses:

T. B. MOSHER, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

